November
17th, 2013 “Church Moocher” Rev. Heather Jepsen
2
Thessalonians 3:6-13
This morning we are looking at the
second letter to the Thessalonians. In
the life of the early church, Paul visited the community of Thessalonica once with
Silvanus and Timothy to preach, but then he was unable to return. In the Bible we find two letters written to
this community that have been attributed to Paul. This morning’s letter is written in Paul’s
name, but there is some debate as to whether or not Paul actually wrote the
letter. It was a common practice in the
ancient world to write letters in the name of others, following that person’s
school of thought. There are items in
this letter that do not display the same writing style or theology of Paul’s
other letters so it is commonly thought to have only been written in the style
of Paul. Now, nameless letters make for
difficult preaching, so for our purposes this morning, I will refer to the
letter writer as Paul, since that is what he calls himself.
As with most of Paul’s letters, this
letter is about unrest in the community.
Churches in the time of Paul were not really that different than churches
now and so they struggled to get along.
Everyone has a different idea of what the heart of the gospel is and how
we are supposed to act as Christians. In
Thessalonica, people were eagerly awaiting the second coming of Christ. Some felt that since Jesus was coming back
right away, they didn’t need to work hard for the church. That is the issue that this morning’s reading
addresses.
Paul talks about idleness and an
unwillingness to work. Paul says that
those who are not willing to work should not eat. In the early church community resources were
shared amongst each other. It seems from
Paul’s language that some people were sitting back and letting others do all
the work. We need to be clear that Paul
is not talking about people who are physically unable to work. Rather Paul is talking about those people who
can work, but simply choose not to. Paul
is talking about moochers.
You might not be familiar with the
term but a moocher is one who mooches off of others. This is the kind of person who always seems
to forget their wallet when they go out with friends. A moocher is the kind of person who shows up
at your house uninvited at dinner time but never brings anything to share and
never invites you over for dinner at their house. A moocher is someone who is always asking you
to help them move something heavy or do yard work but is surprisingly never
available when you need help. You know
the kind of person I’m talking about.
You might call them a sponge, a freeloader, or a lazy bum. A moocher is someone who is able to do the
work but simply chooses to rely on the work of others instead.
Paul is talking about moochers in the
community of Thessalonica; those folks who were so sure that Christ was coming
tomorrow that they don’t need to lift a finger today. Those people who are happy to sit back and
let others carry the load of the church community. Paul warns that those people, those moochers,
should not be allowed to continue such behavior. Those that won’t work shouldn’t eat.
Paul leads by example. He argues that when he was with the community
in Thessalonica, he never failed to do his fair share of the work. Even though spiritual leaders were to be
cared for by the community at large, and Paul had a right not to work, he
worked anyway because it was the right thing to do. No free handouts for Paul and thus should be
the case for everyone else.
In the modern church community I see
two different kinds of moochers. First,
there is the classic moocher that you find everywhere. The one who never skips the monthly lunch yet
also never brings anything to share. Or
the one who is always talking about what our church should be doing but never
gets involved with a committee or program.
You can find a moocher like that in any organization.
The second kind of church moocher is the
really scary one, and that is the spiritual moocher. This is one who decides that they don’t need
to do any spiritual work of their own; the church will simply do it for
them. They don’t need to read the Bible,
the pastor will tell them what it says.
And they don’t need to pray, the church says prayers on their behalf and
that’s good enough. Paul warns that
those who won’t work shouldn’t eat, and the same is true of spiritual
moochers. The truth is, if you aren’t
willing to work on your own for your faith, than you will not receive spiritual
nourishment. And if you are not
receiving spiritual nourishment, you will be unable to grow in your faith. The church can’t do it for you.
Paul argues that in the church,
everyone needs to do their part. All who
are able need to contribute to the good of the community as a whole. This work is good and healthy for everyone in
the community, from those who receive the benefit of the work to those who do
the work themselves.
Monastic
communities in particular are really good at this. In fact, pilgrims to the modern monastic
communities of Iona in Scotland
and Taize in France
Of course there are plenty of
opportunities to contribute in our own church community. Today we are celebrating our stewardship
commitments to the church. Stewardship
is about proper management of your time and resources and there are lots of
ways that you can give. Of course, you
can and need to give your money to the church.
This stewardship season we are asking you to prayerfully consider the
needs of this church community alongside your own financial needs.
But, more important than that, today I
am asking you to consider the stewardship of your time and energy. I am hoping that all of you here will take
the time to fill out one of these pink cards and present it during the offering
of our gifts today. Is there something
on this list that you can do? Check the
box! Is there some other way that you
are interested in serving? Fill in the
blank! Believe it or not, a church needs
volunteers even more than it needs money.
No
one gives us a better example of service than our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus himself teaches us that “the Son of Man
came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for
many.” And again, “whoever wishes to be
great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you
must be slave of all.” No moochers here,
the path of righteousness is for those who will work for the community.
Today
I am asking you to prayerfully consider how you can help out the church. In his letter to the church in Thessalonica,
Paul asked everyone in the community to do their part and I am asking the same
of you. It takes everyone working
together, for the church to run smoothly.
Like
the first gatherings of the early church, we will gather in a fellowship meal
after worship today. When we gather at
the table we gather together as a community.
There are those who have given of their time and efforts to prepare this
feast for us. Someone has set the
tables, someone has prepared the drinks, many of us have contributed from our
own kitchens, and some of us will stay late and help clean up. The meal we will share today is a work of the
community. A community modeled after the
work of Christ, who gave of his life that we might gather in freedom and
celebrate in his name.
Paul teaches that even if Christ
returns tomorrow, we need to keep busy doing the work of the church. Those who are able to contribute with money
and time should. Those who give will
receive, and those who serve will share in the life and growth of the
community. Those who mooch will remain
malnourished, for we are each responsible for our own life of faith. You cannot grow if you are not fed. And you cannot receive the spiritual
nourishment of Christ if you don’t participate in the community. My prayer this morning is that God would move
us to ever greater giving and even deeper participation as we seek to model his
son, who came as the servant of all.
Amen.
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